A Palette of Masks
by cryx
Summary: Random oneshot interpretations of the intertwined lives of Domon and Rain. Chapter 5: A black out inspires a little heart to heart. Enjoy!
1. Green

----Green----

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: G-Gundam isn't mine.

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Rain Mikamura sighed as she dropped herself on the couch, permitting herself the first break she had had after four hours of working nonstop on the Shining Gundam. It was then that she wondered to herself, not for the first time, what exactly she was doing here.

She sighed again and closed her eyes, recounting what had happened in the past months. She remembered the college student Rain, much younger and not just in terms of years, filled with the scientific fervor and rationality that had seemed to her innocent eyes so relevant to the world. She remembered the same Rain dazed and confused at being plucked out of her logical, orderly existence by the Neo-Japan government and shipped home to be reacquainted with the ardent brown eyes of a young man she recognized yet did not know anymore. She remembered how fragmented her life felt, how dreamlike and surreal it was in those first few days she had spent with Domon. One day, she would be cooped up in small rooms with chalky blackboards and a mind drunk with memorizing capillaries and researching the functions of endoplasmic reticula. The next, she would be out in the open wilderness with only a tent and the silent companionship of determination epitomized, far beyond what was logical and orderly and rational. She had never realized how small her world had been until then.

Domon Kasshu was far beyond rational as well. That was what she liked about him. And here he was right now, loudly opening the door and stopping to inspect her unfinished work on the Gundam's right hand. Her eyes were still closed, and she knew that she looked asleep. Tentatively she opened one eye and peered between her long lashes at Domon, whose back was to her and who was taking inordinately long to inspect the Gundam's hand. It didn't take long for Rain to realize that he wasn't merely inspecting the Gundam's hand, no, not at all--he was thinking about what the Gundam stood for. His mother's death, his brother's betrayal, and his father's cryogenized state.

"You don't need to beat yourself up over what happened to them, Domon. You aren't responsible, you know," she murmured quietly, her eyes still closed. She knew what she would earn for saying something like that, she knew that she had crossed an invisible boundary that he had established between himself and the world. She knew that he wouldn't like it. Sure enough, his words were exactly what she had expected.

"What makes you think I was thinking about them? You don't know me, so don't judge me, and stop trying to read me." Domon knew his tone was harsh, even for him. He just didn't know what to do when Rain saw through him like that, when she touched sides of him that no one else could touch. So he resorted to anger, the emotion he was most comfortable with.

Rain tried to brush away the pain his words had inflicted; indeed she had adjusted so well to this new life that her emotions didn't even translate onto her features. Instead, she merely chuckled, opened her eyes, got up, and walked over to the Gundam to resume her work. By now, she had realized that when Domon lashed out at her, he didn't mean to lash out at -her-. He was lashing out at himself.

The notion gave her some small comfort, even though in no way did it eliminate the pain. She had come to that discovery only after months of dealing with him. Or maybe it was just that she thought about him a lot?

Out of the corner of his eye, Domon watched the brown-haired woman kneel to finish her repairs of his Gundam's Shining Finger. She seemed completely unfazed by what he said, and he didn't know how to react to that. A part of him was relieved; he knew that she didn't deserve that savage side of him. The other part of him was frustrated, to say the least. Had she stopped caring about his words? Did he have no effect on her at all? Sometimes she was so professional that it...hurt him. It seemed so unfair, when every little crease on the corners of her mouth or every little twinkle in her eye drove him cr--No.

No. He was not going to go there.

He shook his head to stir himself out of his reverie and tried to concentrate on the Gundam before him. But out of the corner of his eye, he was still painfully aware of her. He hated it when he couldn't stop looking at her.

"How was training?" asked Rain casually.

"It was fine," he answered.

"You know, you really should bring more water with you out there. With all the water you displace from your system, it's potentially damaging to go on the way you do."

"Uh-huh," he murmured, less attentive to what she was saying and more attentive on her.

'She's got really nice legs,' whispered a voice in his head that he didn't know he had. He was shocked. Where had that come from?

Now Rain had gotten up, and she smiled at him pleasantly while saying, "I'm going to give you a couple of extra bottles for tomorrow, just in case you forget."

'Or in case you weren't listening,' she thought to herself sardonically.

Domon nodded, not trusting himself to speak. 'Dammit, why does her dress have to be so short!' he thought to himself. He blushed profusely and hoped to God that Rain didn't notice.

He hoped in vain; Rain noticed everything, and he knew it. She cocked her head to the side cutely and asked, "Domon? Are you okay?"

Suddenly he found his voice. "Uh, y-yeah. I'm gonna go uh, shower." With that he sprinted out of the room.

Rain frowned, she was still worried. Maybe the lack of water had gotten to him? If so, the heat from the shower definitely wasn't going to help. "Drink some water before you do, okay?" she called after him.

Now safely separated from her prying gaze (and the thoughts that resulted from -his- prying gaze) Domon obediently went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass from the tap. Just as he finished, Rain came into the kitchen to check up on him. "You should probably wait half an hour before showering," she advised.

Domon rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Yes, mother." He leaned against the kitchen counter and drank the water, trying to look nonchalant as Rain laughed at his words. Then Rain remembered how uncomfortable and red he had looked back in the garage. Mistaking his symptoms for a fever, she walked over to him and wordlessly put her hand against his forehead.

Predictably, Domon blushed at her touch, and an onslaught of his previous thoughts returned. Suspicions confirmed, Rain mercifully stepped back. She didn't know how to begin her news, especially since she knew the Gundam fighter wasn't going to like the idea of a fever delaying his training. But as his doctor, her first priority was to maintain his health, even if that meant that his anger was going to cost her emotional pain. "Uh, Domon?"

Cautiously Domon raised his eyes to meet her firm blue ones.

"You're coming down with a fever. I'm going to have to put you to bed for a few days."

Domon stared at her, bewildered. He felt perfectly fine...at least when she wasn't around. As he opened his mouth to protest, Rain cut him off hastily, anticipating his anger. "Look, I know you're upset about this, and I know that it's going to delay your training, and I know that your training is important to you. But all that training is going to be worthless if you work yourself even sicker later on. It's better to recover now for a few days than later on for a few weeks. So please--"

"Okay." This time, he cut her off.

It was Rain's turn to be shocked. He had rarely been so obedient before--what was going on?

Right then, Domon wasn't functioning enough to protest. The naughty side of Domon's head had taken over again and it was currently replaying over and over for him Rain's words: 'I'm going to have to put you to bed for a few days.'

If Rain hadn't been there and if she hadn't already been concerned enough for his state of health, he would've slapped himself for all his current mental state of chaos.

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a/n: I guess I could call this little piece of silliness my first attempt at a G-Gundam fic. I apologize if anything seemed OOC or out of the plot line--I tried to keep it as true to the series as much as possible, but that's difficult given that I haven't seen that many episodes to begin with. (That's gonna change though--I just got the entire series in the mail, so I wrote this to celebrate!)

As for the OOC-ness...well part of the inspiration for the fic came from a conversation my friend and I had late last night about the drama in our lives. Predictably a lot of my drama has to do with my attitude as a result of spoiled, upper-class almost-white-and-really-bored teenage angst. So even though I took liberties with Domon's behavior, it was because I feel like my personality is a lot similar to his sometimes.


	2. Red

----Red----

Disclaimer: G-Gundam is not mine.

Rating: T

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When Domon thought back about that night, he concluded that the drinking contest with Chibodee was what had started it all.

The King of France had decided to host a ball in honor of the Shuffle Alliance a few months after the 13th Gundam Fight, which Domon had been obligated to attend. He personally thought that the ball was a poor excuse for the French elite to spend unnecessary amounts of money to party their asses off, but he kept that opinion to himself. If he had said it aloud, Rain might hear about it later on. Besides the fact that he hated it when she disapproved of something he did or said, he also hated it when he had to sleep on the couch.

Just after the Neo-Japan couple arrived, Rain immediately and unconsciously began mingling with the other guests--that was the way she was. Domon leaned against the wall and watched her, one corner of his mouth raised in amusement.

She was wearing a cerulean dress that brought out her eyes; it flowed when she walked and accentuated her already well-shaped curves effortlessly. And best of all, she was happy. It didn't take long for Domon to realize that he wasn't the only one who was watching her, that dozens of male eyes lingered on her although, luckily for them, none of them gathered the courage to approach her.

Suddenly an arm swung over his shoulders and he heard a familiar chuckle to his left. Domon turned and found himself face-to-face with the already tipsy Neo-American. "I was wondering when you'd get here, Neo-Japan! How've you been?"

Domon raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Already drunk, Chibodee? It's a bit early, even for you."

Chibodee laughed. "Well it's not like I wanted to attend some stuffy French ball in the first place." He stole a glance at Rain, who was laughing at something Maria Louise had said. Domon didn't miss the look in Chibodee's eyes when he looked at the brunette beauty. "So how have you and Rain been getting along? I'm surprised you two aren't married yet."

Domon flushed. "It's too early for that. Besides, we want to take it slow after what's happened with the Devil Gundam."

Chibodee cocked an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh really, Domon Kasshu? 'Cause word on the street is, you two are living together."

"H-how do you know that? What do you mean by word on the street?" Domon sputtered. Then he realized. "It's the press, isn't it?" _Why can't they just keep my personal life, well . . . personal?_

The Neo-American laughed at Domon's surprise. "You won the 13th Gundam Fight, Domon. How can you expect anything other than celebrity status?" He changed the subject. "But let's stop wasting time on pleasantries. The real reason why I came here is to challenge you."

"You--what?"

"That's right." Chibodee smirked. "I challenge you to a drinking contest!"

(End cheesy dramatic music.)

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After the tenth round or so, Domon looked up to inspect his opponent. Chibodee's cheeks were pink from the alcohol, and he slumped against the table. His eyes were dead, he looked just about ready to give in. But then again, Domon wasn't faring much better either.

Chibodee had ushered Domon into a farely well-sequestered side-room of the giant French palace, where the two "duked it out" to the cheers of a fair number of onlookers. It was then that Rain Mikamura rushed into the room, immediately putting a stop to the contest and dispersing the spectators. It took all her effort to drag the Neo-Japan Gundam fighter to his feet as she said, "I've been looking for you everywhere, Domon!"

She turned her head to Chibodee, still sprawled in his chair and looking at the two of them dazedly. "You started this, didn't you, Chibodee?" she accused.

Chibodee didn't answer but merely waved. "Hey Rain! Can you help me up too?"

Rain sighed exasperatedly and grumbled as she obliged. But as soon as she got Chibodee to his feet, he slumped against her--she hadn't realized he was -that- drunk--and brushed her butt with his hand. "Oh whoops," he giggled drunkenly. "Sorry 'bout that."

That set Domon off.

He yelled for Rain to get out of the way and heaved the table over, barely missing Chibodee. The twenty-or-so glasses on the table crashed onto the floor, spilling across their contents.

"Domon!" Rain shouted. "Control yourself!"

By now a crowd of people had gathered in the room, drawn in by crash of the table. Domon glared daggers at them, mumbling four-lettered words under his breath. He couldn't sort things out here. He stepped past the still-dazed Chibodee and grabbed Rain's hand. "Domon, where are we--"

"Shhh!" he hissed, cutting her off. "Just come with me." _We need to talk._

But Rain was in heels and struggled to keep up with Domon. "Domon, slow down!"

Impatient, Domon picked her up, one arm beneath her knees, the other hand gripping her thigh. He tried to ignore the feel of her arms around his neck, which sent shivers up and down his spine, as she held on.

Rain grimaced. Sometimes, Domon just didn't know his own strength. "Domon . . . you're hurting me," she murmured, her breath tickling his ear.

He relaxed his hold on her hip. "I-I didn't know." Rain smiled against him; she could hear the apology in his voice, even if he rarely said sorry out loud.

Domon found an empty guest room, far away from the noise of the ball. He deposited Rain on the bed and walked over to the door. As soon as she untangled herself from her dress, Rain got up from the bed. "Domon, why did you do that to Chibodee?"

Domon was having trouble with the lock. "Damn, why do the French have to be so fancy all the time!" he murmured.

"It could be because you're drunk. Chibodee was too, you know."

"He shouldn't have touched you."

"It was an accident."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Domon, you're paranoid. You've always been paranoid."

He had finally figured out the lock. He didn't even want to bother with switching on the lights; the darkness suited him just fine. He turned to Rain.

The next thing she knew, she was pinned against the wall with his body pressed tightly against hers. "No I'm not. Not this time," he answered confidently, his brown eyes burning into hers in the pale moonlight.

"Dom--" He cut her off with a kiss, drunk and savage and possessive. Rain's senses reeled--he always did that to her when he kissed her. She dug her nails into his back and moaned into his mouth and felt him smirk against her lips. His hand at the small of her back pushed her closer against him and his other hand stroked her hair tenderly.

He was such a contradiction at times, so savage and yet so gentle.

Rain normally hated the taste of alcohol, but she loved the taste of it on his lips. So she didn't mind at all when his tongue entered her mouth, intoxicating her even further. His hand moved from her hair to her cheek and his mouth moved from her lips to her neck. His heart pounded, and he felt unbelievably light headed--and not just from the alcohol. He loved the feel of her body against his, her lips against his, her against him . . . why did she have to make him so weak?

Domon's hands found her hips and then he remembered. Gently breaking away he bent down and lifted her dress.

"D-Domon! What are you doing!" Rain protested, blushing furiously although she should have gotten used to Domon undressing her by now. "Now's not the time for this!" she hissed.

Domon laughed, his brown eyes teasing her. He lifted her dress to the waist and pulled her panties down just slightly. Sensing that Rain was about to move away, he grabbed her by the calves and tried to not get too distracted by her long, shapely legs. It didn't take long for him to detect the growing bruise on her hip, the one that he was responsible for. He leaned over and kissed it.

He found it absolutely adorable the way her cheeks turned bright red. "You're _really _drunk," she said.

"And you're way too tempting for you own good," he retaliated in a harsh half-whisper before pulling her against him and kissing her again.

This time the kiss lasted even longer. She burned at his touch and he pressed her tight between the wall and his aching body. He wanted her, and he knew it. He wanted her furiously. Almost as if by their own accord, his hands fidgeted with the straps of of her dress and began to pull them down from her slender shoulders. He succeeded. The dress collapsed in a puddle of cerulean silk at her ankles.

_Oh, Domon . . ._ she mentally sighed. Then she felt the gust of wind that blew in from the open window, and she remembered the room around her, only one of many in the palace of the King of France._ . . . no. No. No no no no--_

"No!" She pushed him away, surprising them both. "Not here!" She bent down and began to gather the dress around herself.

Slowly and painfully Domon overcame his initial shock. "Rain I--"

"I said no, Domon, and I meant no. I'm not your property to do whatever you want with."

_I'm not yours..._ Her words reverberated throughout the intoxicated caverns of his mind. Domon was easy to anger.

"Then whose are you, then? Don't pretend you didn't like all those men staring at you out there!" he shouted.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" Her eyes registered genuine confusion, but Domon was too angry to think clearly.

"You know what I'm talking about. You didn't even mind that Chibodee touched you."

Rain actually swore. "Dammit, of course I was uncomfortable! But he was inebriated, Domon. It was an accident! How explicit can I be?" Now fully dressed, she stood up and glared at him.

"He was looking at you, Rain. And I don't know where George is, but if he were here I'm pretty sure he'd be looking at you too!"

She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. _I don't believe this,_ she thought. "So what're you going to do? Lock me up and chain me? Besides, I don't think it's like that with them at all. They're just my friends. And, may I remind you, they're _your _friends too."

Domon sighed and ran a hand through his unruly black hair. She was right, and he knew it.

Taking advantage of his silence, Rain quickly closed the distance between them. It only took her index finger on his chest to push him back a few steps and to sit on the edge of the bed. Sighing and smiling sadly, she slowly walked to him and rested her forehead against hers. Her hands were on his knees. She caught his gaze with her eyes and murmured softly, "I thought we were supposed to come in here to talk."

Domon flushed and laughed bitterly. "That was the original intention, believe it or not. Other things just kind of, um, got in the way."

Rain scowled. "Domon, you know I love you, but sometimes you just need to respect my . . . space."

He looked at her, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?" Realization dawned on him. "Rain, are you breaking up with me?"

She raised her eyebrows, surprised, and broke into a little laugh as she shook her head. "No, of course it's not that. I just . . . need some time to sort through some thoughts. I think it'll be good for you too."

"Crap--does this mean I'm sleeping on the couch then?"

She laughed and nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Rain, I--" he reached for her hand but she had already turned around and was heading for the door. "I guess I'll see you at home then, okay? I--I love you."

She closed the door behind her, but not before turning and smiling at him, her eyes dancing with warmth. "I love you too," he murmured to the empty dark. He felt . . . weird. Not exactly dejected or devastated but something akin to the two, a feeling which he already detested. He already missed her.

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a/n: So after watching a couple of G-Gundam episodes, it turns out that Domon isn't angry ALL the time, which is perfectly fine with me. So I wrote something that popped into my head to express another facet of him--I'm not too sure which facet, but it's different at any rate.

I guess maybe I should dedicate this story to different interpretations of the personalities of Domon and/or Rain and the situations that may follow. It's not going to be chronological (because chronology is hella overrated) and it may not make sense all of the time. (When it doesn't make sense, it's going to be on purpose, hopefully.) So for all I know this could turn out to be one big jumbled mess. Kind of like modern art.

But come on, anything can be modern art. I took a picture of my shoe once. That could be modern art. I have no idea where I'm going with this modern art shpeal...laaaaaaaaaa


	3. White

---White---

Disclaimer: G-Gundam not mine.

Rating: K+

a/n: After having written this chapter, I'm not too sure if I did that whole "Allenby-bashing" thing that people advertise on their summaries. Even though I've found that I really detest her, personally I don't think bashing her is the maturest (?) thing to do. So hopefully I didn't, but maybe I did. I really have no idea, and at this point I really don't care because it's going on two in the morning. But tell me anyway because I'd like to know for future reference!

Because the last segment was so lemon-esque, I decided to do something fairly innocuous to neutralize it. So don't worry, you don't have to cover your eyes for this one. But then again, innocent stuff to me is K+ to the rest of the world, so maybe it isn't that innocent . . . eh, whatever. Enjoy!

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Domon grabbed a towel set thoughtfully aside for him on the table as he entered the garage where the God Gundam was kept. He wiped the sweat off of his brow in almost perfunctory carelessness; he was that used to this everyday ritual.

The towel was also a sign that Rain was in the garage, going about her usual routine just as he went about his.

"Rain?" he called when he didn't see his partner at her usual station before the computer. "Rain, where are you?"

"I'm up here." The voice echoed about the garage, making it impossible for Domon to locate its origin.

Domon rolled his eyes. "Gee, that tells me a lot. I don't know where 'here' is."

"Oh, too bad. Guess you'll have to come find me then." Domon could hear the laughter in her voice. He grinned and began his search.

It took him ten minutes, during which he became considerably more frustrated by the second, before he thought about the cockpit. _That's funny,_ he thought. _There wasn't any damage to the cockpit in the previous match. Why would she be up there?_ But seeing as how he had already scoured the other areas of the garage clean, he figured he'd give the cockpit a shot.

Needless to say, he was a bit surprised when he found Rain in the one spot hedidn't think she would be. "Uh, what're you doing here?"

Rain Mikamura beamed at him and shrugged, not bothering to get up from her sitting position on the floor. "Oh, I don't know. I guess I've always wondered what it'd be like to see the world from your point of view." It was nowhere close to a confession of any kind, but nevertheless Rain suddenly took on a profound interest in her boots.

"Is that so?" Domon grinned and sat down on the floor next to her. Rain only then saw that he was eating little heart-shaped candy-seeming-things from a gigantic, and blindingly flamboyant, cardboard box.

"What're you eating?"

Domon frowned andlooked thoughtful. "You know, I really don't know."

Seeing Rain's amused expression, Domon laughed and held up his hands helplessly. "Some girl gave them to me on my way back from training. She spoke in really fast English that I couldn't understand--something about Neo Japan and winning matches and being her hero."

"Ah yes, the streets of Neo Hong Kong are riddled with fans, aren't they?" Rain rolled her eyes and grabbed the cardboard box out of his hands to read the pink English plastered across the top of the box. "Sweethearts. Seitt used to give me those all the time." She handed the box back to Domon.

He seemed hesitant to take it, eyeing her warily. "I hated those," she added to reassure them. For some reason any mention of Seitt set him on edge.

"Why? Because he gave them to you?" Domon ventured tentatively.

"No, of course not. Because they're drenched in pink and yellow dye and they taste awful."

"Really? I kind of like them."

She raised her eyebrows. "That's cause you'll eat anything, Domon."

"Except for your cooking." He laughed at her anger but duly shut up when she punched him on the arm.

They settled into a companionable silence. Rain picked up a pen that she had left in the cockpit and tried to balance it on her nose. Domon watched in silent amusement as she failed five times in a row.

"You know--" Rain sat up as a thought overtook her and snatched the pen from its precarious perch --"those sweethearts could be poisoned. Or anthrax-infested, or they could have blood on them--"

"That's your paranoid-doctor side talking, Rain." Domon smirked. "Besides, I checked the packaging. It was all secure."

"Ahh. But that's why needles are so fabulous."

"What!" Domon sat up and sputtered, spitting out the candy in his mouth and got up with every intention of getting a paper towel. Rain laugheduntil her sides hurtas she tugged at his sleeve to stop him. "It's probably okay. Sugar's a monosaccharide, which expends energy almost immediately upon intake."

Domon looked suspiciously over his shoulder at her, not reassured. "Meaning . . . ?"

"That if it was poisoned, then you'd be dead already."

Domon _stared_ at her, sputtering. "Wow, thanks for your tremendous concern about my welfare." He sat down again, cross-legged, this time facing her. "So what about anthrax or blood?"

"Well . . . " Rain raised an index finger to the side of her cheek as she thought. "If it was a virus or a disease, then it'll have already entered your system." She picked up the box and sighed, laughing. "Yeah, you've eaten half the box. That's around 500 of those things, Domon." She handed the box back to Domon, who took it but stopped eating its contents. "Meaning that if there was disease, you've already got it. 500 more wouldn't make a difference.

"As for blood, well one of the biggest dangers is AIDS, and if it is AIDS, then it's not going to be spreading anytime soon."

"Hey!" Rain, laughing, was on her feet and on the other side of the cockpit before Domon could even lunge at her for her PG-13 insult. Who knew that she could move that fast?

Domon waited for her to cautiously make her way back to him and to sit back down on the floor before he asked the question that had been tugging at his mind for quite awhile now. "So did any guys other than Seitt give you those?"

He blushed when Rain stared at him long and hard. He was about to tell her to forget it when she grinned and teased, "My, my, we are so full of questions today, aren't we Domon? Let's play a game."

Domon blinked, caught too off-guard to protest when Rain took the box of Sweethearts out of his hand and set them on the floor between them.

"So basically, we're going to ask each other yes-or-no questions. Anytime the askee--Is that a word?" Taking Domon's dumbfounded expression as an answer, she shrugged and continued, "Anyway, anytime the askee has to say yes, instead of saying yes he or she has to eat a sweetheart. When the asker gets the askee to say yes, then he or she can ask the askee a non-yes-or-no question for his or her next turn."

He stared at her, amusement plastered across his features. "This game kind of sucks."

Rain glared back, indignant. "Give me a break. I'm making it up as I go along!" She punched him on the arm again, _hard_. The seasoned Neo Japan fighter winced despite himself--who knew women could punch so hard?

"But Rain, we could just lie and--"

"--well we're just going to have to rely on the honor system here. You're a fighter, you fight fairly. It should be pretty simple. You go first."

_It's you that I'm worried about, _Domon grumbled to himself. "Okay. So how many guys other than Seitt gave you those sweetheart-things?"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Rain held up a finger. "Yes-or-no questions only."

Domon rolled his eyes, wondering why he was going along with her for this stupid game. "Did other guys give you those?"

Rain glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, bemused to say the least. She slowly reached for the box, took a sweetheart out of the box and read the letters on the candy. She rolled her eyes in exasperation at the genius of the American candy industry. "TLC. Sooo original." Without a second thought she popped it into her mouth. "Okay, my turn. Are you bothered that other guys gave me those?"

Mentally sighing, Domon eyed her before taking a purple heart out of the box. Suddenly he hated those little things. _What do you know, it says TLC on it too,_ he thought. In his head he began to organize all the questions he wanted to ask her. Choosing the safest one, he said, "What does TLC mean?"

Rain blinked at him, surprised, before she remembered that she was more proficient at English than he was. "Tender loving care. It kind of goes with heart-shaped candy, I guess, but mass-producing ideas like that makes it less tender and less loving."

He felt his cheeks heat up at the last word and tried to cover it up by asking, "Okay, so what's your question?"

"Hmm . . . " Rain chewed at her lower lip as she thought. Domon watched her furtively. _She has no idea what she's doing to me, is she?_

"Ahh, I've got it! What do you think of Allenby?"

"Allenby?" Domon registered genuine confusion at the question. Where had that come from?

He noticed that she was purposefully avoiding his gaze now but didn't have a single inkling as to why she did that. "A-as a person, I mean. I know how you think of her as a fighter," Rain half-whispered.

"I mean, she's a good friend, I guess. She helps me with training and stuff. And she seems lonely sometimes, so she hangs around here all the time." Domon didn't notice the emphasis he put on the word 'all'. "I guess I really hate it when people are lonely."

Rain glanced at him with those compassionate blue eyes. She hadn't thought about that before--that Domon hated it when people got lonely because that reflected his own loneliness at the abandonment of his family, and of Master Asia. Meanwhile it was all Domon could do to try to ignore her eyes and their effect on him as he sped on.

"And she's really boyish. Sometimes I think she's like my brother instead of like my sister. And it's kind of funny how well she gets along with Hoy and Ming--they're like playmates."

Domon looked at Rain, and a small smile tugged at his lips. "I'm kind of surprised that she isn't here right now, interrupting us."

_Interrupting us . .._ Rain laughed nervously and averted her gaze from his piercing brown eyes. "Okay, your turn."

Domon studied her mischievously. It didn't take him long to pick out a question to ask her from the over-growing pile in his head. "When you were in the Shining Gundam at the Guyana Highlands--as in, piloting it and everything, with a mobile trace suit--"

"Y-yes?" Rain had no idea where this was going.

"--did you enjoy it?"

Rain thought about that. She thought about the utter shock with which she awoke to the pain putting on a mobile trace suit, and to the incredible sense of resolve, that fire,the suit gave her in the task that followed--to deliver the Gundam to Domon at all costs. Despite the pain, despite the confusion, despite the terror of the Death Army . . .

"Yes." Her conviction rang in her voice. The thrill that she got from piloting the Gundam . . . it was phenomenal. She reached over and at random drew out a pink heart. On it in red read the words, "Be mine."

Domon smirked at her, gloating over some personal triumph that Rain somehow understood.

"Okay, my turn," Rain said. "Did Allenby train with you today?"

"No." Rain shouldn't have been so happy over some infinitesimal detail in Domon's day--she really really shouldn't. She really, really, really shouldn't . . .

"So I guess my next question is, why are you so hung up about Allenby?"

All the cartwheels Rain was doing in her head came to a sudden halt. She absolutely _hated_ this question. "Oh . . . wow. That's a toughie." She stared at the cardboard box full of those corny little hearts without really seeing them. "I-I guess--" She faltered. The silence that dragged on seemed like hours for Rain when it was only seconds. Domon watched her with silent interest, willing her to go on.

_That arrogant jerk, he's probably enjoying how uncomfortable I am! _thought Rain angrily. _Man oh man, Rain. This game was your idea. What a mess you've gotten yourself into._

"I guess I feel threatened by her," she finally said, feeling a full-on blush coming on. "The fact that she's a fighter, the fact that she saved you during that tag-team match when I couldn't, even though I was your partner." She glanced at him to see his reaction but just as quickly looked away out of embarrassment before she could even read his expression. "The fact that you're so nice to her, the fact that she's cute and everything--" She stopped suddenly at the sound of Domon laughing at her.

And that _really_ didn't help the state of her blush. "D-Domon!" she shouted, furious. But all she could do was wait for him to subside.

"Silly girl," he murmured, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "C'mere." Before she could protest he had put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him, knocking the box of Sweethearts between them over and spilling the contents across their laps. _I'm really starting to like this game,_ he thoughtUnmindful of the spilled hearts (hehe) and still with an arm draped around her shoulders, he said, "Okay, your turn. Ask me a question."

"O-okay." Still blushing, Rain looked everywhere but up at him and thought about her question. "Domon?"

"Hm?" He glanced at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts.

"When you went to train with Master Asia, did you miss me?"

Domon smiled and glanced stealthily at Rain before scooping up a Sweetheart from her lap and depositing it in his mouth. Rain froze--she was sure her heart had stopped beating.

_Everyday, Rain. Everyday._

The heart had said "Marry me".

Domon quickly settled on his next question. It wasn't especially profound, but it was something that had been tugging at his curiosity for awhile. "Uh, Rain?"

"Yeah?" She squeezed her eyes shut and thought, _Please don't make it as hard as the last question!_

"When you sit on the ground, do you ever have trouble standing up in such a short dress?"

However proficient he may be as a fighter, Domon Kasshu clearly lacked skill when he interacted with women. It was only this notion that could explain his sheer surprise when Rain broke away from him and clearly had _no_ difficulty springing to her feet, face flushed with fury as she scooped up a handful of Sweethearts and hurled them in his face. "Sometimes, Domon, sometimes you are just so--oooh!" Rain shouted and made as if to leave the cockpit.

"Sorry . . . " Domon mumbled before he burst out laughing again at her embarrassment. Rain glared at him, as indignant as ever before snatching up another handful of Sweethearts and throwing them at him again.

Rain bit back her own laughter as she watched Domon ignore the shower of candy and stare at her with a stupid grin on his face. "I really do hope you get AIDS, Domon Kasshu."

She helped him to his feet, a gesture which Domon correctly interpreted as one of forgiveness. She watched her retreating form as she made to leave the cockpit.

I_'m really happy you're here with me, Rain. Even if I didn't get to ask you all the questions I wanted to. Just stay with me until the Gundam Fight's over. Then, then I promise I'll make it up to you. All the anger, all the sorrow that I've taken out on you, when you only deserve all my love . . . I'll make it up to you. And then_--

--he grinned. --_then I can ask you all the questions I want_.


	4. Grey

--Grey--

Disclaimer: G-Gundam not mine.

Rating: K

a/n: So I watched episode 40 for the first time at 3 in the frickin morning and the material in that episode is just irresistible. Although I'm pretty sure other people have written fics about it, the awesome thing about episode 40 is that it leaves room for soooo many different interpretations. So here's mine.

This is in no way related to the last segment. As I've said before, all of the chapters are different interpretations of the same characters, the same plot line. They can co-exist together, or they can be considered AUs of each other.

As for pairings . . . isn't it obvious? I'm an avid DomonxRain supporter.

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When he first met Allenby, it was safe to say that he had been delighted. Here was a girl whose sole mode of expression was through her fists, and whose ability with her fists rivaled even his, who seemed in all respects to be his female counterpart. She was cheerful, adventurous, and best of all, he wasn't afraid of losing her. She had saved his hide on more than one account over the course of their fleeting friendship, and she had done whatever he wanted for him, whether that be replicating George's Rose Hurricane attack or simply scouting out his next opponent. Up until that point, he was sure it should've been her.

When he called her back that time on the docks before their tag-team match with Argo and Andrew, he had surprised himself. He really wasn't sure what he had wanted to say. He really didn't know how he felt about her.

When she disappeared, he should have spent longer looking for her. He shouldn't have forgotten about her at the sight of Fuun Saiki, and he shouldn't have abandoned his search for her so early on. If his concern for her was anything more than superficial, he should have done all the things he didn't do and he shouldn't have done all the things he did.

Up until then, he was almost certain it should've been her.

And yet she--

--she wasn't Rain.

It was as simple as that.

Logically, it should've been her. They communicated and interacted well together, they were comfortable together. She was everything he could have hoped for--wasn't she?

But since when was the world ever logical, really? Since when was it logical to have giant metal monstrosities duke it out in the ring of the Earth, laying waste to the very matrix from which humanity had sprung, all for the outcome of one dictator of all space? Since when was it logical to adhere to codes of chivalry and fair play when the very activity these codes were geared towards fanned the coals of a never-ending cycle of bloodthirsty competition, of the overt oppression and distraction of the masses at the hands of a handful of government agents?

Logically, he shouldn't have been so hurt when Rain resigned. Logically, he should have respected her decision instead of taking it personally and burying the pain deep inside his heart, to the deepest, darkest abyss of his soul, where he stored his most personal anguish. Logically, he shouldn't have been so harsh to that Akino when all she tried to do was ready his Gundam for him. Logically, he shouldn't have stood for hours in the rain outside the garage where the Gundam was kept, drenched in thoughts of her.

He remembered the hours before the Gundam fight against Schwarz Bruder, when the Shuffle Alliance had gathered around him. He should have been happy that they had gathered around him as a tribute to their allegiance to him, that he had their support like old times. He should have been overjoyed at the idea of coming so close to his promise of winning all his preliminary matches.

"Did you find Allenby yet?" he rememberedArgo's mild interest when he asked that question.

He remembered the utter shock with which Chibodee, George, Sai Saici, and Argo got to their feet when he told them later, "Rain's no longer with us."

Yes, even then, they knew. Everybody knew.

He had been such a fool.

Allenby was fun and entertaining. She laughed all the time, but it was a one-dimensional laugh that held no meaning. But Rain . . .

Her appeal had been so much deeper, so much more profound. There were no words to describe her. And her smile . . .

Oh, her smile.

Her smile intoxicated people--he had seen it most acutely in Chibodee. Had that been the reason he had pushed her away? Because she had seemed so hard to win, so easy to lose, and because he had been so afraid of losing her that he ironically pushed her away?

His friendship with Allenby had been simple. It was a relief, and not much more. A relief from the way Rain destabilized him when they made eye contact, the way her smile made his heart skip beats, a relief from the way she moved so gracefully and effortlessly. It was torture for him, so uncomfortable and complex and confusing when all he wanted to do was _be_ with her. Rain Mikamura. The woman he had always known, who constantly surprised him without even thinking about it.

He was comfortable with Allenby. And yet, ironically, he had never been so himself with Allenby as he had with Rain. As much as he hated the thought of losing her, as much as he was afraid of trusting her because he had been betrayed and abandoned by everyone else he had trusted--he had never been so himself as he was around Rain. He had never been so himself, but at the same time he had never been so uncomfortable. She made him such a contradiction.

Talk about illogical.

She had seen him at his worst, all the time. He had lashed out at her with his words, with his silence, with all the things he didn't think he'd ever be able to say to her. And yet, every time, she would just smile quietly, a little forlornly and leave to repair his Gundam, blackening her hands with the grease from his Gundam for no reason at all.

Except for once. He hadn't meant to push her to the floor at the hospital lobby--he had meant to shake her off, to sort out his confusion. Why had he gotten so mad at her? Why did he hold her so responsible for Allenby's disappearance? He guessed that it was probably because she had always been the responsible one; she had always been the one to make everything okay even when things were at their worst for him. She had always been able to fix what he had damaged, be it a Gundam or anything else they had encountered.

There was an old adage that Kyoji had taught him when he was young. Something about tolerating imperfections in people you didn't care about, and loathing imperfections in those you did. She had made a mistake that _one_ time. Oh, the irony. The irrationality.

When he heard that she had resigned, he had called her selfish. He would have called her anything to disguise the anguish, the darkness that lay behind the multicolored layers of his soul. When Allenby disappeared, his concern was open--it was on the surface but not anywhere else. When Rain left, the pain was too much to expose to the world. It was deeper, and it ate away at him while he stood drenched in the rain. The rain had been so heavy that day. It synchronized so musically with his churning insides as he had stood in the darkness, waiting and waiting and waiting hopelessly for her to return.

Allenby never had a chance.

Schwarz Bruder. In the fight, he needed to focus on the Neo Germany fighter. He was supposed to, he should have been aware of only him when it came to that match against him. But--it was only after reflecting on the whole ordeal that he could admit this to himself--he had been atrocious in that match. A part was from hiding the pain that festered within him, eating away at the layers of his heart, another was the fact that he wasn't all there. No, he didn't have his other self at the computer outside the ring, fanning the flames of his strength by her mere presence. The crowds had always cheered for him: deafening, enthusiastic, ground-shaking cheers. But he had always only listened for one voice. Always, always.

Hers wasn't there. It was then that he realizedwho it washe was fighting for.

Schwarz had him on the ground, helpless and cornered. He needed to focus only on him. Only on Schwarz, only on the pain, only on the fire within that he waited to return. He only needed to focus on Schwarz.

"Rain!" And somehow, in the midst of all this pseudo-concentration on Schwarz, he found himself again. Somehow, he was able to tear apart his battered pride and scatter it to the winds and stand up and look her in the eye and tell her with his fight against Schwarz all the things he thought he'd never be able to tell her. Somehow he had been able to get away from the bombs unharmed, fueled by the thoughts of _Rain_,and somehow he was able to leave his cockpit and run to her on the battlefield and to _hold_ her, for that one fleeting moment that lasted always.

Gone was that pestilential pride, gone was the anger, gone was the sorrow. Gone were all the things about himself that he couldn't deal with at the moment in that one brief moment.

Always, always.


	5. Black

---Black---

a/n: So it turns out that I got mixed reviews for the last chapter, which is cool. I agree that the last chapter is analytical, but that was mainly because I wanted to use it to sort through, for myself as well,my own take on the undercurrents of ep 39-40 because there was so much that happened that needed explaining, imho. So thanks for the honesty, and thanks for the compliments too. :) Appreciate it!

Disclaimer: G-Gundam not mine.

Rating: K+

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When Domon had all too self-consciously asked Allenby about it later, she smiled sadly and answered in perfect honesty, "It had been obvious. I just hadn't realized it because I was so caught up in you." They only saw each other once after the defeat of the Devil Gundam, at some top-secret, highly elitist and highly boring reunion for the Gundam fighters of the 13th Fight.

"I only realized at the hospital, when her name was practically every other word that came out of your mouth." She had laughed then, eyes empty of remorse--it was clear that she had moved on. Thank goodness for that.

At the time, Domon had been so caught up in the whirl of excitement, of the anticipation of telling Rain that he had won the Battle Royale, of telling her that all of the anger and all of the pressure and all of the self-doubt and guilt and confusion--all of that was over. And of telling her something that was far, far more important. He had been too caught up in the adrenaline and excitement to really even notice the injured girl limping to him in the hospital halls.

Now that he had reflected on that incident, he realized how painful his inconsideration had been. He hadn't realized that Allenby had woken up to the sound of his voice calling Rain's name. How could he, when his every vein pulsed with the excitement of seeing Rain--of finally making her his after all of the utter insanity was over--so much so that he had almost coldly returned Allenby's clingy hug, with questions of only Rain spilling from his lips.

Given how painful his inconsideration had been, maybe he had deserved the long, excruciating hours that followed after he had heard the news of Rain's departure. Beyond his concern for Allenby's medical condition ran a turbulent, destructive whirlwind of confusion as he asked Rain over and over again questions that she was not there to answer.

He had felt like he had truly lost her.

Chibodee, Sai Saici, George, and Argo had badgered him for hours, asking why he didn't go after her. They didn't understand. Didn't they realize how much he had wanted to go? To jump into his Gundam and tear up the clouds, ripping up the atmosphere of that heavy prison called Earth and all that bound him down to any sort of responsibility, to scour the stars clean in search of her...

But he couldn't. There was nothing tying her to him; she was not responsible to him anymore. She had freed herself of those chains the moment he had won the tournament. They had pushed so hard, so painfully for that victory--together--they had given all they had to each other. But now that they had reached their goal...now, that they had won, he had lost her, the only one that had made the entire journey endurable.

The fight had been his excuse to be with her. But now, he didn't have an excuse anymore. How would she receive him, if he just went to her for no reason, when she had explicitly told him not to follow her?

He had made things so hard for her over the course of that year--he had strained her past her resources so many times without even realizing it. She had taken it all, taken in his anger that she was not responsible for, taken in the pressure of the Gundam fight that weighed down the both of them, taken in the overbearing arrogance with which he made decisions for the both of them and expected her to go complacently along with them. She had swallowed all of that in small grimaces, and she didn't say a word, and then she had smiled warmly at him with those eyes of hers and warned him against overworking himself.

"If I went after her, it would make things difficult for Rain."

He didn't deserve her. Rain deserved all the happiness that the world had lost; he couldn't give that to her. She deserved protection from all the anguish and corruption and destruction of the world that the Gundam Fight had represented; he had brought her into that. He had been so selfish, so blind of everything around him because his whole life had been the next Gundam fight. Rain deserved someone better than him. He was the champion of the 13th Fight, he defeated the Devil Gundam, he could do anything with his fists, he could be invincible in the battlefield--but when it came to words, when it came to _Rain, _he was a mess.

When he had heard the radio transmission from Dr. Mikamura, that was his chance. That was his excuse to be with her again, to make her indebted to him,to "claim" herin some inane, childish way--

But he was done with excuses. He planned just to save her--just to make sure that she was all right--and then disappear from her life. She deserved someone better than him; she didn't need his presence to weigh her down, she didn't need his selfishness and anger and his tucked away insecurities--it would only make things difficult for her. She deserved so much more than he could offer her, and in his one act of unselfishness...he would let her go. Yes, he was to save her, and that was it. That was his determination, that was his resolve, that was his power.

But when the Devil Gundam had opened, when he had wrapped her up into his cape and held her again and breathed her in, he had lost his power. He had relinquished it at the point when he opened his mouth and said to her all the things that had been burning inside of him for those long, excruciating hours. Now that he had her, he couldn't draw from inside himself the strength to let her go. Her presence, her being, the very sight of her nested and protected in his cape--_that_ had decimated his heretofore indestructible determination.

When Domon had faced off against the Devil Gundam that had safely harbored Rain from the world within the folds of its infinite metal complexity, in the end it was Rain who won. In the months that followed, people would joke about how he had conquered her--but really, it was just as true the other way around.

So yes, in the end it was selfish of him to be with her. He would admit that it was. But selfishness could be understood--she always understood. And besides, she wasn't complaining, now was she?

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Rain set her alarm clock extra early so she could set time aside from her busy schedule to tinker with the God Gundam. Although it would be three and a half years until the next tournament, the Neo-Japan authorities were not the kind of people who would let her get behind in terms of technological advancements to be made on the Gundam. More relevantly, her pride as Domon's partner would not let her get behind. And so it was that she had used all the advanced Gundam gadgetry in her power to take off the Gundam's right hand and pick apart the palm, working her way into the the core where she could insert and test the latest power chip Dr. Kasshu had developed.

It was more than a little struggle to get the machinery into the right coordinates so that she could use them to take off the hand in the first place, something Domon could have done much more easily--and less clumsily. But given the present situation, she preferred to talk to him only when absolutely necessary.

Using the machinery, she managed somehow to get the dislocated hand onto her worktable and got to work. After an hour or so, she had finally worked her way to the core and, brushing her hair out of her eyes she let out an immense sigh of relief before reaching for the power chip--

--and yelped as a pair of arms suddenly grabbed her waist from behind. She stubbornly refused to turn around to face her attacker as she smoldered under his mischievous laugh. Figures, that someday he'd use that martial artist stealth against her.

"You know that you almost made me break this thing?" Still without turning around, she held up the power chip over her shoulder where he could see it before inserting it into the core of the Gundam's hand. "Do you know what this is?"

He wrapped his arms more snugly around her, and he leaned in to rest his chin on her shoulder. "What?" he asked, nonchalant.

"It's that power chip your dad developed. You know, the one that gives doubles the strenght in your right hand."

He rolled his eyes. "So what if I almost broke it? I don't need fancy technology to help me win Gundam fights."

"Oh really, Mr. Kasshu? How about I break your Gundam too? You could still win, right? I mean, you don't need technology, after all." Even though she was joking, he sensed an undercurrent of anger in her voice.

"You're still mad at me about that night, aren't you?" For the first time that morning, his voice revealed the vulnerability it had so successfully masked before.

God, he missed her. Was it that possible to miss someone living in your own house? After the incident at the French ball, living with Rain had been insane. Most of the time she made a point to avoid him, and when she absolutely had to talk to him, she was impersonal and cordial and professional. Domon would have misjudged the seriousness of the situation if he hadn't caught the twinkle in the corner of her eye when she saw how much she vexed him--she was laughing at his frustration! It was a realization that both angered him and set him at ease, ironically enough. She could do that.

It was only then that Rain turned around to meet his eyes, and the wariness in her blue eyes was the only answer he needed.

With some alarm, Rain took in his messier-than-usual hair, the morning stubble on his chin, and the overall sleepiness with which he moved and talked. He had that just-tumbled-out-of-bed look that she found secretly found so hot on him. But it was bordering on 11 in the morning...

Many people slept in past twelve on the weekends, and many people would count that as normal, and many people would not feel the slightest tinge of guilt or laziness as a result of it. But many people didn't know Domon Kasshu. Domon Kasshu, with very few exceptions, would be out training before the sun even hit the mountains. Today happened to be one of them.

"Domon, did you just get up?"

He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and messing his hair up even further. "I--I was thinking about stuff."

She knew exactly what he had been thinking about by the way his eyes avoided hers. Even though he tried to hide it, that time when she had been imprisoned within the Devil Gundam still constantly haunted him. Beneath her surprise, and beneath her anger at him, and beneath her concern at the way _he_ dwelled on the past, surfaced a small grin of appreciation. He could be so sweet, in his own way that was a secret between them.

"I--I--" he stopped abruptly, not sure how to go on. He met her prying eyes, then quickly glanced away. He hated this; he hated going back to that time when he stumbled with words with her, when he didn't know what to say to her, when they were separated by the miles and miles of the intractable metal that was the Devil Gundam.

So he settled on the only word he trusted himself to say correctly. "Rain..."

She laughed pleasantly and reached up to ruffle his hair. She got it; he knew she got it. Sometimes it was so uncanny the way she could understand him. But he didn't think it was good enough for her; even if she would accept his wordless apology, his silent outpouring of emotions, he knew she deserved more.

"No, Rain, don't forgive me just yet. I don't deserve that."

She raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Are you sure that's the way you want it to be?"

Domon hesitated. "I--yeah. I am."

She grinned and said, "Have it your way. I have to finish up with the Gundam, but I'll be here." With that, she turned back to the worktable and began to put back each fragment of the palm back in place. Domon joined her at the table, an elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, watching her work silently. He liked the way she worked, so peaceful and confident and composed, so completely content with herself and so sure as to who she was. Heenviedthose traits in her.

Rain was half-finished putting the hand back together when suddenly the lights went out, andthe two found themselves enveloped in darkness. Black-outs were so rare nowadays that it took Rain a minute to collect herbearings and figure out what was going on. "Wow, the power's out, Domon. Can you believe that?"

He didn't answer but grabbed her arm instead. "We should go upstairs. It's too dark to see in the garage."

Rain fidgeted reluctantly and glanced at where her worktable would be. "I don't know...I really want to finishputting the hand back togetherthough..."

Domon laughed. "Workaholic," he teased.

Despite the darkness, he swore he could feel Rain scowling at him. "There's an American expression for this situation...something about a pot calling a kettle black," she countered.

An immensely confused silence ensued, which Domon broke with an abrupt "What the hell are you talking about, Rain Mikamura?"

He heard her exasperation in a sigh that seemed to emanate from the darkness. "Basically, you're a workaholic too, just in a different way."

"Riiight. Whatever you say. Listen, I don't know if Dad kept flashlights here."

"Oh. I guess we'll just have to go looking for them then."

Before he could protest, she grabbed him by the arm and headed for the set of cabinets on the other side of the garage. Even though the garage didn't have any windows, by now their eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough to manage their way to the cabinets without stumbling. They started at the top cabinet, hands "accidentally" intermingling as they blindly felt around for anything that felt remotely like a flashlight. Domon grinned in the darkness as Rain's hand brushed by his again--despite the fact that they had been together for months, and had done a hell of a lot more than just hold hands, the feel of her soft skin alone was still enough to send shivers down his spine. And judging from her flustered "sorry", the feeling was reciprocated.

The second drawer yielded more promising results. "I think I've found a pack of matches," Rain said. "They aren't flashlights, but they're better than nothing."

Domon nodded and struck a match, and all at once the world came quickly into a flickering focus. He stood over Rain as she knelt down to rummage through the bottom drawer of the cabinet. Presently she dug out an unopened pack of candles. Laughing, she glanced over at Domon--his heart constricted at the way the flickering firelight made her eyes appear to dance in cerulean pools--and said, "Well, your father has candles but no flashlights. Sometimes, you Kasshus can be really bizarre, you know that?" She selected one of the candles and lit it with a match.

Domon chuckled, unfazed by the way she teased him. "Yeah, well, you'd better get used to it if you're going to--" All of a sudden he cut himself off, feeling his face heat up at the words he had almost said. He glanced surreptitiously at Rain to see if she had realized the intentions he had almost let slip.

Rain only quirked an eyebrow in confusion at him. "If I'm going to what, Domon? What were you going to say?"

"I-it's nothing. It's nothing, Rain." He got up abruptly, looking for some excuse to leave and collect his thoughts. "I-I'm going to get some water," he lied, still facing Rain as he backed away towards the stairs.

Rain sprung to her feet. "Wait, Domon, watch--" She squeezed her eyes shut as she heard him crash onto the ground with a loud, ominous 'thud'. --out for that box behind you."

Tentatively she opened her eyes again, to find Domon sitting cross-legged on the ground, nursing an elbow that bled profusely along with a forearm that sported the traces of a burn. The match lay extinguished on the ground beside him--it had grazed his forearm when he dropped it in his fall. Domon scowled at the box that had been responsible for his fall and shouted to nobody in particular, "Who put that there?"

"Sorry." Rain gave him a weak smile. "I had to take some of the machinery out to take off the Gundam's hand, so I left it there."

Slowly and painfully, Domon stood up, his eyes never leaving Rain's, his brow furrowed in more than one kind of anger. "Why didn't you just ask me to do it for you? I could've have done it easily."

She averted her gaze from him and bit her lower lip. "Well, you know, I was still kind of mad at you and--" She glanced at his arm and another wave of guilt washed over her.

"I should take a look at that. Let me go get the first aid kit, okay? I'll be right back." She lit another candle and set it on the ground, taking the first with her as she went to get her medicine supplies.

With his foot, Domon maneuvered the box closer to the candlelight and watched Rain's retreating form. The pain emanating from his right arm was excruciating, but he had been through much, much worse, both physically and emotionally. The faint scent of lavender wafted to his nose, and with that he jerked up in surprise. It was the candle. The candles had been his mother's.

Suddenly the pain in his right arm didn't feel so bad anymore.

No wonder his dad had kept the candles.

Domon had only lived with his mother for half of his life, and whenever he tried to recall her his memory was hazy. He remembered her as someone would remember a dream. Her features were not defined, nor was her personality or her voice--it was all so amorphous and feathery and all so frustratingly so. All he remembered was the softness he associated with her, how the way she tied her brown hair back seemed so oddly comforting.

But now, as the lavender aura began to enfold him, it began to dispel some of the murkiness that surrounded his memory of her. He remembered that she would bake cookies on Fridays, that they had always been cinnamony on the outside golden on the inside. He remembered that she would tousle his dad's hair when she thought no one was watching, that she would take long walks on the endless green lawns of Neo Japan when she was sad. She would always watch the earth. Above all, he remembered that she had loved the earth.

Neither he nor Rain had slept well these last months--their common losses haunted them all the more brutally at night when they didn't have the activity of the day to distract them. It was an unconquerable bond between them that only they could understand. It was their secret against the world. Often, he had awoken to find his face wet with either tears or cold sweat, his mind ablaze with images of that piercing reality to which they both were bound. Rain would always be there for him, with the infinite compassion that made her so beautiful. It was on those nights, she had made it clear to him that his pain was hers, that their emotions were irrevocably intertwined. Often, he had awoken also to the sound of Rain sobbing in her nightmares over the same loss, when all he could do was take her trembling body into the warmth of his arms and stroke her hair and murmur, "It's okay, Rain, it's okay." He felt so helpless then. So, so infinitely helpless.

He found himself almost wishing that this was a demon of the same caliber as the Devil Gundam, palpable and prominent and simple in its malice. If it had been anything like the Devil Gundam, he would know how to handle it. But he knew that this demon ran far deeper than that, sinister in its complexity,that he could never touch or see this adversary, that it lurked forever beneath the depths of his consciousness, that even when he laughed or smiled he would always see it out of the corner of his eye, and that above all--and this was the part that terrified him--that he _needed_ this demon if he was to hold on to them. His mother, Kyoji, yes, even Dr. Mikamura--he had long since forgiven Rain's father for what he had done

This time, no passionateproclamation of eternal love could vanquish it. This gave it an immeasurable darkness.

And he couldn't stand the thought that everything, every fear and every trepidation and every immense ocean of lostness, that he felt, she feltas well. On the one hand it killed him toknow thatshe had walk down the same cruel road, on the other it comforted him to know thattheirroad was shared.

Because, as different as he and Rain were at times, the pain intertwined the two into one. Yes, there was no way to defeat it, there was no way to make it go away. He could only compromise and vow to help her with their shared pain for every remaining second of his life, making sure that he took out of himself anything and everything if that was what it took to get her to smile again.

"Domon? Domon!"

She touched his forearm, and the physical pain of the burn ripped him out of his reverie. He winced and drew back, making her draw back as well when she saw she had hurt him. "Sorry, I needed to check where the burn was."

He watched her as she took out an ice pack, bandages, and some antibiotic salve.

"Don't be sorry," he murmured.

"What do you mean?" She began to secure an ice pack over his forearm with bandages.

"I should be the one apologizing."

She avoided his eyes as she tied the bandage together and began to apply salve to the scrape on his elbow.

"I'm sorry, Rain."

He saw her pause ever so slightly as she reached for a new roll of bandages, but she didn't say anything. She knew that he wasn't done yet.

"I'm sorry that you felt like I treated you like that. As if...as if my jealousy got the better of me--which it did--and that I didn't care about what you wanted.

Even though I really, really, really do care."

Rain met his eyes for a split second before focusing on wrapping the bandage to his elbow.

"I shouldn't have taken you for granted like that. And I shouldn't have been so possessive--I just wanted to make you mine all over again."

He waited for her to meet his eyes again, to do or say something--anything!--that let him know that she registered his words. But she only continued to wind the bandage around his elbow.

"Say something, Rain."

Nothing.

He tried again. "I was drunk. And you've got to admit--" he smirked mischievously-- "you _did_ look hot in that dre--OW!"

She had pulled extra tightly on the bandage as she finished tying it. He quickly jerked his arm away from her as rubbed his smarting elbow. "What did you do that for?"

Rain stared and him long and hard, her expression cold and unsmiling. "Sometimes, you're awfully good pissing me off." Suddenly she closed the distance between them and kissed him, pulling away before he realized what had happened. "You had me from the beginning, Domon. I can't believe you'd let something so trivial make you question that. You can be such a moron sometimes!"

She turned away and began to pack her things into the medicine kit. With her back still to him, she explained, "I was mad at you because I felt like you wanted sex to reaffirm your own self-respect. I mean, it didn't hurt me directly or anything. But I wish that you didn't need me to define how you think of yourself."

Rain turned around in surprise as Domon burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny, Domon!"

"It kind of is." He got up and walked over to her, grasping her around the shoulders with his good arm. "You may not understand it, but I _want _to define myself by you. I want you to be the axis around which my world revolves.

Look, in our partnership, I was never the strong one--at least, not emotionally. You were. You're the one who's always stabilized me during the Gundam fights last year, you're the one whose approval I needed the most. I still need it. Weren't you listening all those times when I told you I needed you?"

"But you _shouldn't _need me--"

"Says who? I think I should decide that, Rain. I don't want to be strong, if that means that I'm going to love you any less."

_Domon..._To say that Rain wassurprised would be a vast understatement. But before sheknewit,he had takenher hand and interlocked their fingers.

"My hands are greasy," Rain protested, but she made no move to take her hand away. Indeed, he had already felt on her hand the salve that she had put on his wound.

He smirked at her and murmured, "Is that so?" in a growl that made her heart skip beats. He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it, his eyes never leaving hers.

She laughed and looked away, trying to hide her blush. But she studied him beneath her long lashes.

Domon caught the look. "What're you thinkin'?"

She grinned mysteriously, her hands pulling playfully at his jacket to bring him closer. "Nothing..." she replied in a tone that suggested just the opposite. Her blue eyes teased him.

"Oh, you're thinking something all right. C'mere." He grabbed her as she made as if to move away, causing her to gasp in surprise and laugh into his shirt when he held her tight beneath her jacket. "Tell me."

"I'm thinkin'..." she breathed into his ear, "I'm thinkin' that you're like fire."

She grinned as the hand that held her held her tighter, as the eyes that burned into hers burned all the brighter.

She swore she could drown forever in those eyes.

"Hey, Rain?"

"Hmm?" She rested her head on his shoulder, her arms around his neck.

"Fire can't burn alone, can it?"

Domon could feel her smile against his shoulder. "No, no it can't."

The candle flickered in the darkness, dancing in a fervent, inextricable harmony. It basked in the light that it had created, and in the darkness that made the light exist. It was then that Domon realized that light and darkness were functions of each other.

"Hey, Rain?"

"Yeah?" Her eyes followed him as he walked over to the candle, the lavender scent wafting over her in waves of hard-won peace. She sat down on a nearby chair as he picked up the candle from the ground and sat down on the box that had caused his fall. He brought the candle between them.

"Ever had an adventure in the utter darkness?"

She caught the suggestiveness in his smirk and grinned, all game. "Not yet I haven't."

All she saw were his brown eyes dancing as he blew out the candle. "Consider that your invitation."

Through the ironic complexities of the stricken world, through the bewildering expanse of nothing and everything, their hands found each other in the darkness.

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a/n: Dude, this was loooong. A lot longer than my other chapters, at any rate. It was definitely not a one-shot--I would've died before I finished from brain implosion.

Kudos to anyone who gets the hand symbolism, as well as the part about Rain getting to the core of Domon's Gundam's hand. And kudos to anyone who gets the light-and-darkness tie-ins.

Okay, I out.


End file.
